Thinking of starting War gaming...

[Elvfsting]

Hi

Thinking of starting war gaming, ideally fantasy or 40k, not too sure on which one though. I used to play alot a few years ago, but I've forgot most the rules and sold most the miniatures.

Been looking at the high elves for fantasy, or maybe the skaven? Or O&G?

I used to play skaven and liked them.

I was thinking for a started army, maybe 2 core units and 1 hero, and then a special unit.

A couple of q's:

What would be the best Warhammer army to play for beginners? Fantasy or 40k?

Any advice on what to get? E.g. How many core units etc

Thanks :D

Elvfsting

[erloas]

Well the first thing I would recommend is picking between Fantasy and 40k. I personally prefer Fantasy, but seeing as how everyone locally plays 40k the choice was made for me. (I used to play fantasy a lot before I moved)

So I would say the first thing to do is find the active groups and find out what they are playing and go from there. These games simply don't work without other players, and a decent range of opponents will make things much more interesting.


If you've already played before, even if its been a while I wouldn't be too worried about finding a beginner friendly army. Even if you've only played fantasy and end up with 40k I wouldn't worry too much about it because a decent amount of the rules and flow of the game is fairly similiar. And although both have gone through major revisions in the last few years both revisions, for 40k and fantasy, were much more of a streamlinining and polishing of the rules and nothing too drastic changed.

The minimum for an army for both Fantasy and 40k is a character/HQ choice and 2 core/troop choices. Then you can have up to 3 elites and 1 rare (sub 2000 points) for fantasy and 3 special, 3 heavy support, 3 fast attack, choices in 40k.
In either case you can get about a 500 point army with a battalion/battleforce box and a hero. Every battalion/battleforce box I've seen includes at least 2 core or troop choices. I would shoot for 1000 points to start out with, as that size makes games more interesting (many armys don't develope very well until at least 1000) and isn't yet a huge investment. It depends entirely on how much you are looking to spend though.

As for which army to pick, they all have their good points and their bad points. I would suggest picking an army that plays how you want to play and something you find interesting and like the models. I put play style ahead of everything else, but I know some people pick entirely on the looks and others pick entirely based on how cheesy they can be.

For playstyles the thing you have to keep in mind for fantasy is how much shooting you want, how much you want to rely on war machines, how much magic, how fast they are and how good they are in close combat. If you want a strong close combat army that doesn't use a lot of magic or shooting for instance, you wouldn't pick skaven. And if you want a lot of shooting, war machines and magic you wouldn't pick beasts of chaos.

40k is similiar, except movement comes more from transports then individual units (though fleet and scouting and deepstriking come into play too) and instead of war machines you have big guns and tanks. The shooting too can either be fewer powerful shots or lots of weaker shots, some with very good range and others with very short range. And the close combat capabilities of armies can vary by huge amounts.

Anything specific about unit choices will depend entirely on what game, army, and playstyle you are looking for so I won't try to answer those questions right now.

[Tunaghost]

If you do...try to get minis from ebay or something. If you want a large army, IMO the price is not worth it.

As for beginners, I think a Chaos Mortal Khorne army is pretty straightforward. All melee, just charge at enemy ranks and dispel magic...if you can.

I do remember that Elves might require some tact.

[Lustia]

from what i see, chaos demons can play both fantasy and 40k, right? I know the bases are different (round vs square), but if the units are all the same, it seems like just a technicality to me.

Might be a good consideration if you're seriously waffling between both.

[Aeviryn]

from what i see, chaos demons can play both fantasy and 40k, right? I know the bases are different (round vs square), but if the units are all the same, it seems like just a technicality to me.

Might be a good consideration if you're seriously waffling between both.

Yeah, other than the Soul Grinder the daemon units can be used in both so if you're stuck between 40k or fantasy they;re a good choice. Use the square bases so they can rank up in fantasy, and most people won't care if you use them in 40k. If you find a lot of people have an issue with it, look into movement trays like these and use the round bases http://www.litkoaero.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LAI&Product_Code=GMT_20mm_Rd_Skirm

[Viktor Stahle]

Go Bretonnia. [No explanation needed] Best ever <3

[Echelon03]

Go Bretonnia. [No explanation needed] Best ever <3

Explanation given:

1- Cavalry charge.
2- ???
3- Profit.

[Dropkick Murphy]

Didn't Chaos get a new book and new miniatures recently? As far as 40k, I really wish Orks would get a new codex and models. Man I love Orks.

[Elvfsting]

Didn't Chaos get a new book and new miniatures recently? As far as 40k, I really wish Orks would get a new codex and models. Man I love Orks.

They got some new ork boyz recently didn't they?

I've got a whole unit of ork slugga boyz from when I used to play, so I may put them to use and roll orks. Can the ork boyz be assembled with shootaz or choppaz?

40k seems like the way to go as alot of people play it around here.

Cheers for all the responses guys!

[Direlord]

Didn't Chaos get a new book and new miniatures recently? As far as 40k, I really wish Orks would get a new codex and models. Man I love Orks.

orks got a new book i think this year with a few new minis. they are getting a battlewagon plastic model, i think new plastic nobs, stormboyz, and something else coming i think jan.

they did get IIRC new burnas, trukk, lootas, new mech models. i think the basic boyz did not change. if you get the 40k start set you also get 3 plastic dethkoptas.

[EatzDaLot]

Chaos Daemons got updated for fantasy and 40k in May I believe it was, Orks (note the k, that means 40k) got a new codex and a ton of new minatures last Jan and are due for more this coming Jan. Orcs (fantasy) last got updated when the current edition was released afaik

[saidor]

What would be the best Warhammer army to play for beginners? Fantasy or 40k?

Best army for beginners in Warhammers are the Dwarves. They are tough guys who dont require any great tactics to be successful, but are bloody awsome when you develope a greater understanding of them.

Best army for beginners in 40k are the space marines, any chapter will do. Tough and simple to use and dont require any real brain work.

Go Bretonnia. [No explanation needed] Best ever <3

Pfft. GW HATES Bretonnia and shafts them at every oppertunity. Other than the charge (which is admittedly hugley powerful) Bretonnians get nothing worth while. Break the charge you defeat the army. Their archers, which are supposed to resemble english longbowmen, are almost the worst archers in the game, and the foot soldiers - what a joke. In 10 years they've had a single upgrade to their army book. They have the smallest range of models for any army.

[Bilious]

Pfft. GW HATES Bretonnia and shafts them at every oppertunity. Other than the charge (which is admittedly hugley powerful) Bretonnians get nothing worth while. Break the charge you defeat the army. Their archers, which are supposed to resemble english longbowmen, are almost the worst archers in the game, and the foot soldiers - what a joke. In 10 years they've had a single upgrade to their army book. They have the smallest range of models for any army.

Once upon a time Chaos Dwarfs got a half-assed army book. Once upon a time...